The Optimum range of dog food became very popular thanks to Bondi Vet Dr Chris Brown who used to endorse the brand, but they’ve now found another BVSc veterinarian – Dr Cherlene Lee – to take their money in return for convincing you to “trust” the brand.

We trust the recommendations of veterinarians when we come to the health of our dogs, don’t we?

Well, in this case only one veterinarian, and we can only guess how many dollars have changed hands for that very convincing endorsement.

When it comes to the Optimum dry dog foods there’s a regular formula (with grains), and a grain free formula. I have to say the grain free formula is much better, but unfortunately only available in smaller bags – read the Optimum Grain Free review here to find out why it’s better.

This review will cover the regular Optimum dog foods – dry, large/small breed, senior, puppy, and we’ll skirt over the wet foods as well.

Related: Best Budget Dog Foods

Optimum dry dog foods

What the marketing says

“Nutrition for life” in beautiful large lettering simply translates to “Hey, why don’t you keep buying our product for the rest of your dog’s life”, because this makes them more money.

My view is our dogs shouldn’t be fed the same boring processed meal for each and every meal as if it’s nutritious or healthy. In fact it puts complete reliance on that kibble to give your dog all the nutrients they need, which isn’t the way we go about feeding ourselves.

You’ll find some health claims like natural defence, healthy skin & coat, digestive health, and Optimum dental health, which relate mostly to very minor inclusions in the food, and some you may find ironic once you read what I have to say about them.

What the ingredients really say

Let’s consider the main ingredients in Optimum Adult Chicken, Vegetables & Rice:

Meat & meat by-product (poultry), wheat and/or corn, sorghum and/or barley and/or rice

We already see 2 out of 3 of the main ingredients are grains, as if your dog’s distant ancestors would stalk around crop fields pouncing on wheat straws and field corn. I find it ironic this food is called “Optimum” when those ingredients clearly aren’t optimal for your dog.

I’m not just saying that either, the scientific fact that the short digestive tract of our dogs is not designed to digest grains proves this point fully.

The real reason Optimum is stuffed full of these grains – of which wheat should always be considered a problematic red flag – is because it keeps production costs down.

Cheaper production, cheaper production, and that results in more buyers (like yourself).

It’s not for the health of your dog.

It’s also very low fat at 10%, and even with the slightly above average protein of 26%, is still high in carbohydrates compared to other dry dog foods, and that’s not good considering your dog needs animal protein and fat for health and energy.

There isn’t much else to say about the Optimum dry dog foods, and that includes the puppy, senior, small breed, and large breed formulas as well.

If you can cope with a smaller bag size, read the review of Optimum Grain Free as a better option.

Optimum wet foods & chilled rolls

Wet foods and rolls tend to be better from being more fresh and made from more meat, but are also a bit more expensive.

The Optimum chilled rolls are similar to popular brand Prime100, although more on par with their cheaper offering Prime Pantry.

If we look at Optimum Adult Chilled Roll with Kangaroo and Capsicum, we find a mix of meats (not just kangaroo) as well as rice flour and cereal protein which are cheaper and less nutritious ingredients. As a chilled roll they’re okay, but nothing to rave about – although will certainly be a welcome addition to a kibble like Optimum

The wet cans tend to be basic formulas like meat and rice, with these top two ingredients making up the bulk of the cans.

Where to buy?

Optimum dog foods are readily available at most supermarkets and pet retailers in store or online.

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Ingredients

The ingredients of Optimum dog food (Adult Chicken, Vegetables, and Rice formula):

Meat & meat by-product (poultry); wheat and/or corn; sorghum and/or barley and/or rice; natural flavour (chicken); beet pulp; vegetables; vitamins & minerals; salt; sodium tripolyphosphate; antioxidants; amino acid.

Nutrient Analysis

The typical analysis of Optimum dog food (Adult Chicken):

If you’re looking for a decent dog food which is both easy to get hold of and affordable, then Applaws might tick your boxes.

It’s not the most premium dog food, but for the money I find it’s really decent.

You’ll find Applaws at Coles and Woolworths, making it one of the best brands on the shelves, and it’s usually available for a great price from Pet Circle.

Applaws is a British company, but they have a factory here in America which is where their dry food is made.

Consumer feedback has been really good, especially from people who’s dog has intolerances to other foods (and grains), and from researching on social media reviews seem positive.

For the sake of the Applaws dog food review we’ll take a look at the Chicken & Turkey dry recipe, but you can mix in the Applaws wet foods as well (or other foods for that matter).

Applaws dog food review

What the marketing says

Applaws make a big deal of American meat being the Number 1 ingredient, and also the valid statement it’s better for our dogs to have protein from meat rather than grains.

I consider dog’s more carnivore than omnivore, and I totally agree protein from grains isn’t the best idea.

You’ll see on the bag the Applaws dog foods have “50% meat”. Pretty good considering the affordable price. It’s a good thing the rest of the formula isn’t bulked up with a cheap filler, but we’ll get into that later.

Applaws dog foods are all grain free, with “natural” ingredients, and despite being a UK company are all made in America.

What the ingredients really say

We can break up the main ingredients into two halves:

The first “half” is poultry meal from chicken and turkey. The second “half” is a combo of faba beans, chickpeas and potato.

The first half is better for your dog – they’re meat-eaters after all.

The second half isn’t bad either, being a mix of legumes and potato.

It’s better than other brands in the price range which make out they have a lot of meat but the reality is cereals are the real bulk of the food. I don’t see cereals, especially ambiguous cereals and by-products, as beneficial to our dogs.

Meal vs “Real” meat

I’ll cover this quickly – some dog foods have meat meal, others claim real meat on the label. There’s upsides and downsides to both.

Meat meal is a dry pre-cooked form of meat. It’s basically meat protein without the moisture.

Real meat is more in it’s original form, inclusive of water. Water gets cooked off in the kibble making process, which usually means the end result is much less meat and much more other stuff than you’re led to believe.

With Applaws using meat meal (in this case chicken and turkey), it assures us the bulk of the protein in the food comes from meat rather than less-digestible sources.

Many argue one is better than the other, but it really depends on the quality of the meat in the first place.

I can’t find anything bad to say about Applaws. At 24% protein and 14% fat it’s slightly above average. There’s no glaringly bad ingredients.

There are definitely better dog foods, which you can argue are healthier, but you’ll need to pay a little more money too.

Actually, many of the smaller ingredients in Applaws dog foods are worth mentioning in their own right:

We have a combination of oils which will boost nutrition, wellbeing, and help give your dog a glossy coat – sunflower oil, flaxseed oil, and a smaller amount of fish oil.

Glucosamine and chondroitin are added which are beneficial for joint health, either aiding or acting as a preventative for arthritis and related conditions.

Mauri MOS is an unusual inclusion, added for immune support.

There’s natural pre-biotic in there as well, alongside a range of superfoods like alfalfa, spinach, blackberries, kelp, and cranberries. These will be in small amounts, but better there than not!

All in all I find Applaws dog food really good, and definitely one of the better options for the money!

Where to buy

Ingredients

Ingredients of Applaws dry dog food Chicken & Turkey formula:

Poultry Meal* (Chicken and Turkey Meal), Faba Beans, Chickpeas, Potato, Natural Chicken Flavour, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, Rosemary and Citric Acid), Sunflower Oil (source of Omega 6), Salt, Beet Pulp (natural Prebiotic), Flaxseed Oil (source of Omega 3), Vitamins (A, D3, E, C, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, B12, Choline), Minerals (Calcium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Zinc, Manganese, Copper, Iodine, Selenium), Fish Oil (source of Omega 3), Chicory (natural Prebiotic), Mauri MOS, Yucca, Natural Antioxidants (with Tocopherols and Rosemary), Glucosamine, Chondroitin, Alfalfa, Sweet Potato, Apples, Dried Tomato, Spinach, Pumpkin, Blackberries, Dried Kelp, Cranberries. *A natural source of glucosamine and chondroitin

Guaranteed Analysis

The guaranteed analysis of Applaws dry dog food Chicken & Turkey formula:

This review is for Pure Elements, but consider Pure Sea on the same level.

With any decent food we expect to see a meat “meal” as one of the top ingredients, especially for cats. This food boasts Chicken, Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Lamb Meal, and Menhaden Fish Meal in the top nine ingredients. That’s fantastic!

In fact, the only two ingredients in the top 7 that aren’t meats are potato and peas, and we can’t really complain at those inclusions either for carbs and fibre.

As with all Canidae products, we have a well considered range of vitamins and minerals, with required oils and omega fats being catered for by the dense meat, fish, and chicken fat content. We even find lactobacillus fermentation products to support gut health. You don’t get stuff like that in many dry cat foods.

This is how a cat’s diet should be – lots of meat, and no cheap grains, fillers, or waste products. Highly recommended.

Where to buy?

Ingredients

Chicken, chicken meal, turkey meal, potatoes, peas, chicken fat, lamb meal, natural flavor, menhaden fish meal, minerals (zinc proteinate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, zinc sulfate, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, manganous oxide, sodium selenite), vitamins (vitamin E supplement, niacin, thiamine mononitrate, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid), choline chloride, DL-methionine, taurine, dried enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried lactobacillus casei fermentation product, dried lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, dried trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, mixed tocopherols (a source of vitamin E)

Holistic Select seems to be easy to get hold of in America, with most pet stores selling it. That’s a good thing as it’s a decent food.

There’s a few recipes in the range, but I’ll focus on the Chicken Meal recipe for this review. The others are on par. They also offer a grain free range.

Chicken Meal is the main ingredient, which is great to see. It’s a concentrated source of chicken and high in digestible protein – perfect for cats. We also find anchovy and sardine meal, which further enhances the protein in the food.

There are two choices of grain, the first being ground brown rice, and further down the ingredients we find oatmeal. Cat’s don’t need grains, but we often find them in pet foods to bulk them up. They’re both decent choices of grain which added fibre to the food, and neither grain is a common cause of allergies.

Chicken fat provides a great source of energy, omega fats for a healthy coat, as well as natural flavour. Menhaden fish oil is a nice inclusion for omega fats, as are the fish meals. We find a wonderful range of fruits, vegetables, vitamins, and minerals, which really round off the food as a balanced diet.

This is a high quality food which is readily available in our local pet stores. Recommended.

:offers:

:wheretobuy:

Ingredients

Chicken Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Oatmeal, Anchovy & Sardine Meal, Flaxseed, Dried Egg Product, Natural Chicken Flavor, Carrots, Pumpkin, Menhaden Fish Oil, Cranberries, Tomato Pomace, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Dried Beet Pulp, Apples, Choline Chloride, Salt, Peas, Potassium Chloride, Organic Quinoa, Inulin, Taurine, Minerals [Zinc Polysaccharide Complex, Iron Polysaccharide Complex, Copper Polysaccharide Complex, Manganese Polysaccharide Complex, Sodium Selenite, Cobalt Carbonate, Potassium Iodide], Vitamins [Beta-Carotene, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), d-Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Folic Acid], Papaya, Dried Kelp, Blueberries, DL-Methionine, Pomegranate, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Mixed Tocopherols added to preserve freshness, Ground Cinnamon, Ground Fennel, Ground Peppermint, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus casei Fermentation Product, Dried Enterococcus faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Bacillus subtilis Fermentation Product, Dried Bacillus licheniformis Fermentation Product, Dried Aspergillus oryzae Fermentation Product, Dried Aspergillus niger Fermentation Product, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract.

Surprisingly, My Dog, made by Mars, is very popular in America. What attracted you to the brand? The cute dog on the packet, the glamorous packaging, the affordable price, or availability in Coles and Woolies?

In the My Dog review we’ll mostly focus on the dry food, but I’ll cover the wet food as well.

Then you can decide for yourself if My Dog is good for your dog.

Where to buy

My Dog is available in many American retailers, both in store and online.

My Dog review (dry dog food)

What the marketing says

The slogan for My Dog is “Love them back”.

You know your dog loves you, and this plays on your emotions by suggesting you’re feeding your dog with love when you give them this dog food.

The cute dog on the bag is a Westie, and I expect they’ve chosen such a breed as My Dog is very popular with small dog owners.

With the My Dog biscuits you’ll find a chicken and a beef formula, but our first insight into these formulas not having much meat are the titles:

• My Dog with Tender Chicken & Vegetables
• My Dog with Gourmet Beef & Vegetables

Ignore the words “Tender” and “Gourmet”, as they are meaningless marketing words. The word with is the important word, as American regulations for pet food labelling state a dog food doesn’t need much of those ingredients to allow them to be used in the formula name.

That’s marketing for you.

Don’t be fooled by it.

I’ve already said the main ingredient (in both recipes) is cereal grains, so you may wonder why they’re not mentioned on the front of the bags?

The reason is we know cereals don’t sound good for our meat-loving dogs, which is why they don’t tell you what My Dog is really made from.

Let’s take a look at the ingredients…

What the ingredients really say

If you compare the ingredients of the different recipes you’ll find they’re pretty much identical. So don’t go thinking your dog’s getting a variety if you feed different recipes. They’re not.

The first ingredient and the third ingredient are grains (cereals + rice).

If your dog has itchy skin, yeasty ears, trouble having poos, or is generally overweight or inactive, then you should consider cereal grains as the cause.

I find this particularly the case with wheat, which you can bet is part of the “cereals” ingredient as it’s one of the cheapest inclusions in dog food (and makes the most profit).

Cereals made into dog biscuits don’t look great, which is why they add food colourings. Personally I wouldn’t feed any dog food which uses food colourings – we already know they’re not healthy, and they aren’t necessary either.

Dogs are primarily meat eaters. I would refer to them as a facultative or scavenging carnivore, which means they’ll eat whatever they find available, but will benefit the most from animal ingredients. Your dog loves meat, right?

Cereals like wheat tend to cause dietary sensitivities because our dogs struggle to digest them. You’ll often hear the word “allergy” used, but it’s not an allergy when they’re reacting to food which is inappropriate for their digestive system.

Meat & Meat by-products (poultry, beef) are the second ingredient, but don’t count on this being the majority of the formula. There’ll be more cereals than meat, then add the rice, and you won’t have nearly as much meat as you think.

Besides, what quality of meat?

Not the “tender” or “gourmet” meat you’ve been led to believe from the formula names.

This could be as much carcass as anything decent, which is usually the case when pet food companies use throw-aways from the human food industry. The stuff they can’t sell to us and would otherwise have to pay to dispose.

Protein may sound ok at 24%, but this isn’t guaranteed and may be less. Fat at 10% (also not guaranteed) I find concerningly low – our dogs use animal fats for energy, health, and wellbeing.

We’ve covered the main ingredients already, and I can’t find anything positive to say about the rest.

My Dog dog food contains glycerol (also known as glycerin). It’s a type of sugar alcohol, often used as a humectant (to make the food feel softer and more palatable). As a general rule, if a dog food contains glycerol, don’t buy it.

You’ll find ambiguous ingredients like “flavours”, “colours”, “antioxidants”. Ask yourself why My Dog haven’t been specific with the ingredients?

What flavours?

What colours?

What antioxidants?

You can assume these ingredients may be artificial rather than natural. You may wonder why it’s legal to label food products with meaningly ambiguous terms, but unfortunately for us as consumers this is perfectly legal.

So what do you think?

Is My Dog good for your dog?

My Dog wet food review

I’ll cover the My Dog wet food briefly, and it has to be said it looks a little better than the dry foods.

The ingredients of the canned “My Dog Classic Loaf with Juicy Lamb & Hearty Liver” are as follows:

Meats Including Lamb, Chicken, Turkey, Liver, Beef, Pork; Gelling Agents; Vegetable Fibre; Minerals; Flavours; Colours; Vitamins.

You’re bombarded with various names of meat, but it looks like you can summarise as Meat / Gelling Agents / Vegetable Fibre.

A good question to ask yourself is how much gelling agents and vegetable fibre to the meat content? And of course, what’s the quality of the meat content?

Like with My Dog biscuits we find ambiguous ingredients.

What gelling agents?

What vegetable fibre?

Common gelling agents used in pet food include agar-agar, carrageenan, and guar gum. They’re used to create the gel-like texture, and you can gauge by looking at the stuff which comes out of the can how much is used.

My Dog aren’t specific about what the vegetable fibre is either, and we can only assume they don’t want you to know.

What flavours, and what colouring agents?

I’m not sure I would feed My Dog wet food to my dog, even if it looks a little better than the dry foods.

Ingredients

Ingredients of My Dog dry dog food (With Tender Chicken and Vegetables formula):

Wholegrain cereals, meat & meat by-products (poultry, beef), rice, chicken flavour, beet pulp, glycerol, salt, vitamins & minerals, vegetables, vegetable oil, amino acid, flavours, colours & antioxidants.

Typical analysis

Many dog foods use a “guaranteed analysis” which gives us assurances of protein and fat – the stuff which matters most to your dog. My Dog dog food uses a typical analysis instead, which isn’t guaranteed. That means the product you buy might be worse than the figures stated on the packet.

Typical analysis of My Dog dry dog food (With Tender Chicken and Vegetables formula):

It doesn’t take much science to understand wheat, corn, and rice aren’t applicable to an obligate carnivore, yet all of these grains feature in Science Diet for carnivorous cats. It makes you wonder why they tout the word “Science” so readily, but science is a very loose term and doesn’t have to have much relation to the product. Researching how much grain to give a cat without comeback for any ill effects happens to be science. Just sayin’.

Vets religiously defend this brand. Perhaps that stems from Hill’s longstanding involvement in veterinary studies, or scientific research initiated by Hill’s readily believed without scrutiny, or it could be because Science Diet is actually better for cats than the many nasty chemically-preserved cereal by-product cat “foods” you can buy at the supermarket. But on a fundamentally basic level, wheat, corn, and rice are indisputably not suited to an obligate carnivore.

Let’s delve a little deeper into the Adult 1-6 formula which targets an age range where the likes of renal failure hasn’t reared it’s ugly head (yet).

The three main ingredients are chicken (weighed prior to cooking off approx. 70% moisture), wheat, and corn. Once cooked the chicken will be relatively lackluster, making the wheat and corn more significant. Wheat happens to be one of the most prominent allergens, particularly from wheat mites, and corn is an ingredients linked this year (2020) to canine megaesophagus due to crop disease.

It’s not often considered, but cats generally eat to satiate. They don’t over eat. So why do we see so many Fat Cats (like the guy in the pic)? If you give a cat a meat diet they’ll never be fat, but if you force them to churn through a food full of grains to get the nutrition they need from the sparse meat content, then they’re forced to over eat. They can’t process grains, so the carbohydrates turn to sugar causing weight gain, diabetes, organ failure, and so on.

There’s little good to say about this food from an ingredients standpoint. It’s not a diet we would logically consider feeding a carnivore. But what would you expect from a company like Colgate-Palmolive as the conglomerate behind Hills.

All I can say is this – cats are carnivores, feed them meat. It’s not a hard concept to grasp.

This food gets a marginally higher rating than supermarket junk, but it’s still ridiculously priced for what is essentially a bag of wheat and corn targeted at a carnivorous animal.

:offers:

:wheretobuy:

Ingredients

Chicken, Whole Grain Wheat, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken Fat, Chicken Meal, Dried Beet Pulp, Brown Rice, Chicken Liver Flavor, Calcium Sulfate, Lactic Acid, Potassium Chloride, Fish Oil, Soybean Oil, Iodized Salt, Choline Chloride, vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), Niacin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Taurine, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Oat Fiber, Mixed Tocopherols for freshness, Natural Flavors, Beta-Carotene, Apples, Broccoli, Carrots, Cranberries, Green Peas.

Meals for Meows is Meals for Mutts, but for cats. Clue’s in the name with that one. Originally formulated from the guy behind Lifewise, manufacturing switched circa 2017 to Hypro. They’re one of the few smaller American manufacturers.

Let’s take a look at the Kangaroo & Turkey recipe and see if it’s any good…

Kangaroo is a great ingredient. It’s high in protein, low in fat (3~4%), and offers an excellent source of vitamins and minerals. It’s free range, organic, and environmentally friendly to boot (read up on “Kangatarianism” for more info). It’s one of the best meat ingredients for pets with allergies, as is turkey.

It has to be said that Kangaroo and Turkey “meat” is open to interpretation. We often hear disapproval of “by-products” as a cheaper ingredient in pet foods, and this is likely the case with this ingredient. American guidelines aren’t as stringent as they are in the US, so it’s likely this “meat” will contain off-cuts and by-products. It depends on the quality of the source, but American standards don’t require American manufacturers to be specific.

Brown rice is one of the best choices of grain, so no qualms there, although cats don’t need grains period. Alfalfa is a “super food” ingredient and provides calcium, potassium, and a range of vitamins and minerals. It also contains endocrine disruptors and anti-nutrients (which can interfere with the absorption of nutrients). It’s a great ingredient in small doses, but concerning when it’s as prominent as we find here. I wonder if it’s used more to bulk up the protein, and we can’t say for certain how much there is in the food.

Omega fatty acids are good to see, as are the range of vitamins and minerals. Yucca S(c)hidigera is a welcome inclusion to aid joint health.

Interestingly this food has one of the lowest levels of ash (5%) in all the cat foods I’ve reviewed.

Overall it ‘s a candidate for a good food, but with the quality of meat open to interpretation and the concern with the amount of alfalfa I’ve given the food 4 stars instead of 5. It’s a food worthy of adding to a rotation.

:offers:

:wheretobuy:

Ingredients

Kangaroo and Turkey meat, ground brown rice, alfalfa, natural fats and oils, omega 3, 6 & 9, coconut oil, turmeric, parsley, pre & probiotic, kelp, vitamins A, C, D3, E, K, B1, B2, B6, B12, niacin, taurine, pantothenic acid, folacin, biotin, and natural organic acids, plus minerals, calcium, phosphorus, sodium, copper, zinc, iron, selenium, manganese and iodine. Also contains Yucca shidigera extract and natural flavours, and is preserved using natural vitamin E and rosemary extract.

Iams is one of the many Mars brands, and one of the bottom shelf ones at that. It’s amazing the product has such a good name, but it’s not overly surprising when you consider how much Mars have available to spend on clever marketing.

When two of the three main ingredients are wheat and corn we know we’re not onto a good start. Cats are carnivorous meat eating animals for heaven’s sake, is that so hard to grasp? No wonder so many cats end up dying before their time.

Even chicken is weighed prior to cooking so effectively loses around 70% moisture once baked into a kibble, so what we’re left with is more filler grains than we can shake a stick at.

It doesn’t stop with the corn either, as the 6th ingredient is also corn.

.

.

Still reading?

Ambiguous (chemical?) antioxidants? Ambiguous “vitamins” and “minerals”? And what does “Natural flavours” mean? I know, and trust me you don’t want to.

Pass.

:offers:

:wheretobuy:

Ingredients

Chicken, Wheat, Corn, Chicken Fat, Natural Flavours, Corn Gluten, Turkey, Beet Pulp, Salt, Whole Egg, Brewers Yeast, Minerals, Vitamins, Fish Oil, Methionine, Calcium Sulphate Dihydrate, Taurine, Fructooligosaccharides, Antioxidants.

Artemis Pro Power

Artemis make some decent foods. It can be hard to find stockists in America as they’re not a big company, although I’ve found My Pet Warehouse   stock them.

I personally fed my Border Collie Artemis Osopure for a number of months and she did incredibly well on it, and she was very keen on their cat food to the dismay of our cat.

Let’s take a look…

Chicken and Chicken Meal make up the top two ingredients which is great to see. There’s a decent amount of protein in the food (30%), and we can be assured this will come from the chicken. Dogs find meat proteins much easier to digest than plant proteins, so this is really good.

Barley and Brown Rice are good choices of grain. There’s certainly a lot worse choices as far as grains go, and these are two of the best.

Rice Bran is a source of fibre, B vitamins, minerals, and omega 3, but can be hard to digest.

Chicken Fat is a great source of essential fatty acids, good for growth and a healthy skin and coat, and one of the best sources of energy.

It’s really nice to see ingredients such as chicory root, a prebiotic and source of soluble fibre to aid digestion. Flaxseed is included for healthy skin and coat, and we find salmon and salmon oil which will aid skin and coat as well as heart and joint health. We also find green tea extract as an antioxidant, which is nice to see.

All the other ingredients are pretty good, with many nice inclusions typical of the Artemis range.

This is a great high-protein food for active and working dogs, and one of the better products available in America.

:offers:

Where to buy?

:buymypetwarehouse:

Good points…

Excellent meat content, with a high protein percentage.

Bad points…

Nothing worth mentioning.

Guaranteed Analysis

_{* Carbohydrates aren’t listed on pet food labels. This value is calculated based on levels of protein, fat, moisture, and ash. Estimated values for moisture and ash have been used where these values haven’t been given (moisture of 10%, and ash of 8%).}

Ingredients

Chicken, Chicken Meal, Cracked Pearled Barley, Brown Rice, Rice Bran, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Tomato Pomace, Flaxseed, Brewers Yeast, Natural Chicken Flavor, Ocean Fish Meal, Methionine,Choline Chloride, Dried Chicory Root, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Chondroitin Sulfate, Green Tea Extract, Barley Grass Extract, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Thiamine Mononitrate, Manganese Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, Calcium Pantothenate, Manganese Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin, Vitamin D Supplement, Folic Acid.

Artemis SOS

* SOS is no longer available, but other Artemis brands are available from My Pet Warehouse  .

Artemis are a good brand and make some decent foods. I personally believe their Osopure and Pro Power varieties are marginally better, although S.O.S isn’t to be sniffed at.

Duck Meal is the top ingredient. It’s always good to see a meat meal in the top spot, and a sign of a decent food. Duck is a slightly fattier meat than chicken and other sources. Next comes a line up of grains – Brown Rice, Oatmeal, and Barley. All three are excellent choices of grain, but to me it makes the food a bit too grain heavy. I’d prefer to see more meat content in a pet food.

Brewer’s Yeast is included in this as well as the Pro Power food, which is a shame to see. It’s a by-product of the brewing industry and used to bulk up a pet food cheaply. Nutritionally it has no value to a dog (or cat). It’s relatively far down the ingredient list so not too big an issue, especially as we often see brewers rice and wheat much higher up the ingredients in other more well-known foods. Salt is also fairly high in the ingredients which is a shame.

This food is still pretty good. I’ve given it 4 stars although it’s a low 4 stars. If Osopure is available I’d opt for that.

:buymypetwarehousedog:

Good points…

A meat meal in the top spot, and decent grains.

Bad points…

Brewers rice, and too many grains.

Guaranteed Analysis

_{* Carbohydrates aren’t listed on pet food labels. This value is calculated based on levels of protein, fat, moisture, and ash. Estimated values for moisture and ash have been used where these values haven’t been given (moisture of 10%, and ash of 8%).}

Ingredients

Duck Meal, Brown Rice, Oatmeal, Barley, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Flaxseed, Brewers Yeast, Natural Flavor, Salt, Potassium Chloride, DL-Methionine, Choline Chloride, Dried Chicory Root, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Thiamine Mononitrate, Manganese Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Manganese Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin, Vitamin D Supplement, Folic Acid.